Residents have had enough with months-long delays in pipe repair project

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Updated: 4:30 PM CDT May 2, 2017

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WEBVTT TODAY, TO FIND OUT WHAT'SHAPPENING ON BURGUNDY. JENNIFER: THIS IS HAS BEENNICKNAMED "LAKE MARIGNY."IT USED TO BE LISA FATLAND'SDRIVEWAY AND SIDEWALK.>> HERE'S WHERE THE WATER'SGOING -- ALL UP AND DOWN, ANDTHAT'S JUST A NORMAL KIND OFRAIN, NOT A BIG TO-DO RAIN.JENNIFER: CITY CREWS TOLD HER APIPE UNDER GROUND WAS THEPROBLEM.>> AND FINALLY THE SEWERAGE ANDWATER BOARD CAME OUT AUGUST 1.THEY TORE UP A CHANNEL. THEY REPLACED THE PIPE AND THENTHEY LEFT IT THAT WAY.JENNIFER: AND THIS ISN'T THEFIRST TIME YOU'RE HEARING ABOUTTHIS PROBLEM.WDSU FIRST REPORTED ON IT BACKIN JANUARY.AND 8 MONTHS AFTER THIS HOLE WASFIRST DUG, AND 4 MONTHS AFTEROUR MOST RECENT REPORT, THEPROBLEM CONTINUES TO GET WORSE.JENNIFER: WHEN IT RAINS, THEYSAY THAT THIS TURNS INTO ARIVER.>> WHEN WE HAVE A HEAVY RAIN IT, FLOODS THE ENTIRE STREET OFSIDEWALKS TO THE MIDDLE OF THEROAD. JENNIFER: HE SAYS MAJORCONSTRUCTION FROM ELYSIAN FIELDSTO ESPLANADE MADE DRAINAGEWORSE.THE SEWERAGE AND WATER BOARDSPENT $880,000 ON THAT PROJECT,JUST TWO YEARS AGO.>> WHO CAN LIVE LIKE THIS?JENNIFER: THE SEWERAGE AND WATERBOARD SAID A CREW WILL BE OUTFIRST THING WEDNESDAY TO ASSESSTHE SITE.BUT RESIDENTS SAY CONTRACTORSHAVE MADE THE ROUNDS BEFORE, ANDWILL NOT FILL THE HOLE, BECAUSETHAT PIPE UNDERNEATH, DUG UPEIGHT MONTHS AGO, STILL LEAKS.>> I THINK THEY SHOULD COME ANDFIX THIS.THIS IS A HEALTH HAZARD.YOU CAN SEE IT'S FULL OFMOSQUITO LARVAE AND SOMEONE JUSTDOES NOT CARE.WE DO.

Frustrated Burgundy Street homeowner: 'Today would not be too soon'

Residents have had enough with months-long delays in pipe repair project

On Burgundy Street, near Frenchman Street in the Marigny, a gaping hole sits full of stagnant water where the sidewalk and Lisa Fatland’s driveway used to be.

Fatland said the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans had the hole dug in August to fix a buried pipe that was leaking.

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“They tore up a channel,” Fatland said. “They replaced the pipe and then they left it that way.”

Residents said contractors cannot fill the hole back up, because the repaired pipe still leaks. The S&WB told WDSU a contractor will be back first thing Wednesday to assess the problem, adding that the fix could require water to temporarily be shut off on the street. They said they would give affected residents notice before shutting off their water. But people living near the hole said they’ve heard nothing but excuses from S&WB for the last eight months.

“This is just not right,” said Larry Graham, who lives on Burgundy. “As many times as they’ve been called, it seems like everybody wants to blame somebody else.”

In 2014, the S&WB completed an $880,000 road project on Burgundy from Esplanade to Elysian Fields, but Graham said that work just made drainage worse.

“When it rains, everything runs this way (down Burgundy) because there’s no drainage,” Graham said. “This drain right here doesn’t work. All the water flows that way and brings the mud, the trash from the bar.”